


Can't Sleep Without You Here

by ALTsvtsector123



Series: Jigyu/Gyuhoon Catching Feelings [1]
Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: M/M, New roommates, gyuhoon, jigyu - Freeform, jigyu/gyuhoon are ex-roommates, jigyu/gyuhoon aren't aware of their feelings yet, mingyu can't sleep
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-08
Updated: 2020-09-08
Packaged: 2021-03-06 23:49:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,864
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26357494
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ALTsvtsector123/pseuds/ALTsvtsector123
Summary: With time comes change, and now, Jihoon has a single room all to himself while Mingyu’s stuck with Wonwoo as his roommate. The thing is, Mingyu just can’t seem to fall asleep without his ex-roommate.
Relationships: Kim Mingyu/Lee Jihoon | Woozi
Series: Jigyu/Gyuhoon Catching Feelings [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1915312
Kudos: 67





	Can't Sleep Without You Here

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! It's been really long since I've written anything, but I've finally made something!  
> SEVENTEEN members have their own rooms now, am I right? Except for Mingyu and Wonwoo? (RIP #Roommatez T^T)  
> So, as a Jigyu/Gyuhoon enthusiast, I decided to write something about that. It's been long though, I'm probably rusty, but here you go~  
> Enjoy \\(^O^)/

“Yes! We’re finally getting one room each!” Seungcheol exclaimed in ecstasy. All the persuading he had to do had finally paid off. He could feel tears in his eyes, feeling proud of himself, of what he had done as their leader.

Seungkwan clasped his hands together, smiling widely with tears in his eyes as well. “Finally!”

Everyone cheered loudly, screaming in glee, already producing chaos in front of their new dorm. Except… Mingyu and Wonwoo.

“Yah!” Wonwoo shouted, bringing everyone’s attention to him. “Speak for yourself. I’m still stuck with this guy—” He pointed at Mingyu, who was standing idly beside him. “—as my freaking roommate.”

The others could only exchange apologetic glances. Perhaps they had been too happy for themselves, but wasn’t it a really really good thing that they have  _ finally _ , after  _ five years _ since their debut, gotten a whole room to themselves? H*ll, it had probably been 10 years since they’ve had a room to themselves, considering their trainee days too.

Mingyu pouted at Wonwoo’s words. “You make it seem like it's a bad thing that I’m your roommate. You should be glad that it’s me, instead of the others.”

Wonwoo could only sigh. He moved his gaze to the smaller man his age. “Jihoonie, wanna switch?”

“Hmm?” Jihoon shook his head. “No way.”

It was his first time getting a room to himself. There was no way in h*ll would he ever give it up. Sure, it would take him some time to adjust to not having a giant, clumsy puppy as his roommate, but… Getting a room to himself would be nice.

“Awww,” Mingyu whined. “You rejected that so quickly. Won’t you miss me, hyung?” He made puppy eyes at Jihoon.

Jihoon rolled his eyes, a tinge of a smile appearing at the corner of his lips. “Sure I will.”

Mingyu frowned at the lack of sincerity in his smaller hyung’s words. He gazed deeply into Jihoon’s eyes. “I’ll miss you a lot, hyung.” He reached out for Jihoon’s hand and clasped it in his. “Really.”

Jihoon could feel his ears turn red.  _ Ah, this idiot. _ Yet, he didn’t take his hand away. He gave Mingyu a smile and more genuinely now, he said, “I’ll miss you too, Minggu.”

Hearing that nickname, Mingyu felt happier than before.

“But that doesn’t mean I’m going to give Wonwoo or you my single room,” Jihoon added quickly, seeing Wonwoo open his mouth. He knew, he  _ just  _ knew, that Wonwoo had wanted to ask him again if he wanted to switch rooms since he and Mingyu seemed to miss each other oh-so-dearly.

The other 1996-liner shrugged. “It was worth the try.”

“Let’s go in right now,” Seokmin exclaimed, already running into their new dorm with Seungkwan and Soonyoung right at his heels. Then, he abruptly stopped before the elevator. “Ah.” He turned back to his groupmates. “Coups hyung! What floor are we in?”

“...” Seungcheol could only sigh as he led the rest of the kids towards the elevator, leading them to their new dorms.

Many, many hours later, they’ve finally made the empty dorm their new home.

“Alright, guys,” Soonyoung started, raising a glass of cola during dinner. They had all decided to eat at one of their dorms, cramping themselves at one table. “Cheers to most of us having a room to ourselves!”

“Cheers!” The rest of SEVENTEEN raised their respective glasses, with different drinks in them —the 1996-line had cola, many of the hyungs had beer, along with their maknae, and The8 was just vibing with his special-made vegetable/fruit juice.

Sadly, they excluded Mingyu, who was painfully cooking up dishes for the boys with no one to help him. “Hey! I’m here too!” he whined, raising a bottle of olive oil since he had nothing else. The only response he got was one unified shout of “We’re hungry! Hurry up, Kim Mingyu!”.

He sighed. How would they ever live without him?

“Aish, you took long, Gyu,” Soonyoung said in a playful manner, already reaching for a piece of pork with his chopsticks. Many of the dishes were almost gone. And for the record, Mingyu had just placed the plates down around 5 minutes ago.

“Maybe it would have been faster if someone had actually helped me,” Mingyu grumbled, taking a seat beside the elder, which had been the only seat left. He reached out to get a piece of pork too, placing the delicious meat into his mouth and chewing it.

“Nah,” Soonyoung said. “You’re our very own cook, you know? Why should we work in the kitchen if we have you?”

“And we’re too lazy to help,” Jeonghan added, smiling.

Mingyu could only sigh.

The dinner continued, filled with chatter. As always.

Soon, it was already 10pm.

“Ah…” Seungcheol sighed out, stretching in his seat. “It’s good that we have no schedule tomorrow. We can all sleep in.” He straightened his back, saying, “Why don’t we all hurry and wash up? Sleep early for once?”

At once, a chorus of agreement rang out from the rest of the members. They were all tired from personalizing their own rooms. Mingyu, especially, was tired, having cooked for 13 people.

“Then, let’s play a game to decide who’ll wash the dishes,” Seungkwan announced. The game they chose was the simple classic — Scissors, Paper, Stone.

And… Hansol lost. The second youngest was thus tasked with washing the plates used for their dinner, which honestly, was a lot. There was no word imaginable to describe the emotion Hansol felt when he looked at the mess on the dining table. 

Sighing, he got to work. The other members told him, “Fighting!” in their own ways and went to wash up.

Naturally, the bathrooms were also on a first-come-first-serve basis. Mingyu found himself at the back of the line since he had accidentally tripped and fell on the way to the bathroom, allowing the others to overtake him.

Thankfully, they didn’t take so long to wash up. Once Hansol was done with the dishes, he merely took 10 minutes to bathe and get ready for bed.

The team said goodnight and a few moments later, it was lights off. Snores eventually filled the area.

However, no matter how hard he tried, Mingyu couldn’t seem to fall asleep at all.

~

“... Are you sure you want me to take a picture of you when you’re in this state, Mingyu?” Minghao asked, concern evident in his eyes.

By ‘this state’, the Chinese man meant a drowsy-looking Mingyu with very terrible eye bags. He looked like a tanned panda (no offense, at all, to his beautiful skin colour).

The taller one nodded stubbornly. “It’s been a week since we’ve moved in. I want to show Carats that we’re adapting well here.”

“Looking like that, you’ll worry them more,” Minghao replied, putting down the phone.

Mingyu sighed, unable to refute his friend’s words. He had seen himself in the mirror in the morning, and yes, he admitted he looked terrible, but… “Do I really look  _ that _ bad?”

Minghao nodded without any hesitation. He looked at Mingyu worriedly. “You look like you haven’t slept for days.”

Mingyu sighed. He couldn’t say otherwise; it was the truth. “Yeah, I think I’ve only had like 3 hours of sleep each day… I mean, by the time I close my eyes, it’s already time to wake up.” He pouted and whined, “I hate it…”

“Why can’t you sleep?” Minghao asked. It was only a question, but somehow, being severely sleep-deprived, Mingyu suddenly felt so frustrated, annoyed and irritated.

He snapped, “How would  _ I  _ know? Don’t you think I would have done something if I knew why the h*ll I can’t f*cking sleep?” Vulgarities came out of his mouth one after another. Only after realising what he has done did he stop.  _ Gosh _ , he was having  _ mood swings _ .

“I’m sorry, Hao,” Mingyu mumbled softly after some silence passed. “I was too rude. I shouldn’t have vented out my frustration at you… I’m sorry.”

Fortunately, his friend smiled. “It’s fine. You’re way too sleep-deprived to have a calm mind.” Before Mingyu could smile back, Minghao’s grin faded. “But if I catch you talking to me like that again… You can’t be sure there won’t be any consequences.”

Seeing the expression on Minghao’s face, Mingyu gulped. He nodded immediately, and right after, he fled away from the living room.

By chance, he found himself outside a familiar door.

The door to Jihoon’s studio.

~

“Jihoonie hyung?” Mingyu called out, entering the room. He saw his hyung on the chair. He was wearing headphones, staring seriously at the computer screen.

_Ah…_ _I shouldn’t disturb him_ , Mingyu thought. But he didn’t get out of the studio. Instead, he quietly went to the couch there, lying down on it. His eyes never left Jihoon’s figure.

Mingyu sighed, pouting. He was tall and huge, for goodness sake. One would think everyone would be able to sense his presence in the room, but  _ no _ . His hyung didn’t notice him at all.

But then again, he also had to praise himself for being so quiet to the point that Jihoon didn’t notice him.

_ Hmm…  _ Mingyu decided to spend the time just staring at Jihoon as the smaller worked hard.

Slowly, his eyelids drooped, and soon, he was snoring softly on the couch.

~

“Ugh…” Jihoon stretched in his seat, done with some songs. “What time is it?” he muttered under his breath. 

He squinted at the bottom right corner of his computer’s screen. It was 2am.

He sighed. That wasn’t so bad. It was still quite early. At the very least, he’d get 4 hours of sleep.  _ Not bad at all. _

After making sure he saved his work, Jihoon turned off the computer, ready to go back to his room and get the sleep he desperately needed.

He walked past the couch. Only to stop in his tracks and squint at the figure on it.  _ Mingyu? _ Jihoon sighed. Why exactly was this giant puppy in his studio?

Pinching the bridge of his nose, Jihoon decided to wake the man up. Shaking Mingyu gently (well, as gently as he could), Jihoon tried to wake him up. “Oi, Mingyu, wake up.” Perhaps his voice was too soft, the younger didn’t move a muscle.

“...”  _ Should I give up? _ Jihoon decided to try again, increasing the volume of his voice. “Wake up, Mingyu-ah. Go to your room.” He shook Mingyu more roughly now. “Wake the h*ll up.”

Mingyu opened his eyes.

_ Finally _ , Jihoon thought. He frowned after a moment. Now that he really looked at Mingyu, the male looked absolutely terrible. However, another moment later and his feelings changed again, turning to fondness. 

Mingyu’s eyes had brightened at once when he came face-to-face with Jihoon. Jihoon, noticing that, could only smile. “Mingyu-ah, come on, let’s go back to our rooms.”

Mingyu nodded happily, following behind his hyung like a lost puppy.

As they were walking back, Jihoon asked Mingyu why he had been in his studio. “Why didn’t you say you were there?”

The taller shrugged, yawning. “I wanted to see you, hyung. It’s been really long, you know? We see each other much less now. Anyways, I didn’t want to disturb you since you were working hard. So, I waited for you.” He gave a sheepish grin. “I ended up falling asleep, but at least I get to talk to you now.” He gave another yawn, causing Jihoon to frown.

Jihoon was frustrated. “You could have gone back first. You didn’t have to wait for me.”

“But I wanted to, hyung.”

“You didn’t  _ need  _ to. You should have gone to bed earlier instead,” Jihoon muttered.

Mingyu protested against that. “Going to bed earlier wouldn’t have done anything. I can’t sleep.”

Jihoon looked at him like he had grown another head. “You were sleeping perfectly fine on that uncomfortable couch. You’re joking if you’re telling me you can’t sleep on a soft, comfy bed.”

Mingyu pouted at his hyung’s skepticism. “It’s the truth,” he whined. “You saw me sleeping in the studio there? That was the most sleep I’ve gotten in the week.”   
“No wonder you look terrible.”

“I know, hyung. I don’t need anyone reminding me about that.” Mingyu sighed, suddenly feeling very tired. Jihoon noticed that his dongsaeng’s shoulders dropped down. His expression softened.

“It’s all right,” he said, patting Mingyu’s back gently. “Get some more rest, and you’ll be fine. Don’t work yourself too hard.”

Mingyu hummed a response. “Thanks, hyung.”

The two reached the doors of their respective rooms. “Goodnight, Mingyu-ah,” Jihoon whispered, opening his door.

“Goodnight, Jihoonie hyung,” Mingyu replied back quietly.

The two went to their separate rooms, ready to sleep.

But just like the other times before, Mingyu lied in bed, wide awake.

~

“WAHHHH!” A loud shriek shook Mingyu out of his thoughts. He looked at his fellow 1997-liner, confused. Seokmin pointed at something mutely. “It’s oN FIREEEEEEEE!”

Mingyu immediately swerved his head. His heart dropped as he saw his burning pan. At once, he brought it to the sinking, dousing the flames. His heart was beating wildly now.  _ What. The. F*cking. H*ll. _

“Mingyu-ah?” Seungcheol, who had been in the living room playing games with Wonwoo, was now at the kitchen. He had smelled the burning scent. “You okay, Gyu?”

Mingyu forced a smile. “Yeah, I’m fine.”  _ No _ , he was  _ not _ . He was  _ so _ tired, but who was he to complain? They were all exhausted.

Seungcheol narrowed his eyes at the taller, then he just sighed. “Okay, if you say so.” He looked at the burnt food on the pan. “Throw that away and start cooking breakfast again,” he said, his leader persona already disappearing. “I’m hungry~”

Mingyu followed Seungcheol’s orders, preparing to throw the food away into the trash bin.

At that moment, Jisoo walked past him. The LA-boy chuckled, stopping in his tracks. “Yo, do you remember that IF episode where we had to cook burgers? That—” Jisoo pointed at the food that was still in the pan. “—looks like Vernon’s burnt chicken patty from h*ll.” After saying that, the older walked away, laughing to himself about the memory.

“...” Mingyu, on the other hand, felt irritated.  _ Great _ , he thought sarcastically.  _ Just great. _

First, he couldn’t even sleep a wink. He was so d*mn tired. Second, he looked absolutely ugly these days, with dark bags under his eyes that were usually concealed using some makeup. And now, his cooking skills were being compared to Hansol’s, who was a huge amateur in cooking! No offense to Hansol, of course. The kid tried hard, but he just wasn’t suited for cooking. Mingyu was a different matter from Hansol though. Cooking was his  _ skill _ . He was supposed to be good, no, scratch that, he was supposed to be superior in it. That was why he was the chef in their group. He had even taken cooking classes! 

But now? He felt worthless. He had been making lots of mistakes too these days. He felt inferior. And so d*mn tired.

“Ah!” Mingyu shouted suddenly, letting the feelings of helplessness wash over him. He placed the pan in the sink after throwing the burnt food away. “Cook for yourselves,” he grumbled. Then, he stomped all the way to his and Wonwoo’s shared room, slamming the door behind him and locking it.

At his outburst, the members immediately exchanged anxious glances. Seungcheol decided it was time to hold an emergency meeting.

~

“I’m sorry,” Jisoo mumbled worriedly. “I must have been too insensitive…”

Seungcheol shook his head. “No, it’s not your fault. We’ve always teased Mingyu, he’s completely immune to it now, so it’s no one’s fault.”

“But I should have realised how he was feeling,” Jisoo insisted. “I’ll go apologise to him.” He prepared to stand up, but was stopped by a hand on his wrist. Seungcheol pulled him back down onto the couch. “You’re not going anywhere.”

Jeonghan seconded that. “Going there when Mingyu’s really sensitive now would make things worse, Shua. You can apologise to him later. For now, we have to think about how to calm him down first.” The angel looked at the other members. “First of all, we all know why Mingyu is acting this way.”

Minghao nodded. “He has been getting way too little sleep so, he’s more prone to sudden mood swings. Just like now.”

Seungkwan frowned. “But  _ why _ can’t Mingyu fall asleep? He can sleep technically  _ everywhere _ . It doesn’t make any sense that he can’t fall asleep.”

“Yeah, that’s what I was wondering too,” Minghao agreed. “Mingyu usually falls asleep once his head touches the pillow. There shouldn’t be anything wrong, but there is. The thing is,  _ what _ is it?”

“Should we make a list of what’s different?” Hansol suggested. “Maybe there are some changes that make Mingyu hyung unable to sleep well.”

Jeonghan hummed a reply. He faced Mingyu’s current roommate. “Wonwoo-ya, you don’t play games late at night, do you?”

Wonwoo shook his head. “Even if I did, I’d play it in the living room, not in the room. Besides, Mingyu doesn’t mind the noise that much.”

“Hmm… I honestly don’t understand what the problem could be,” Seokmin said. “The bed shouldn’t be a problem. We’ve changed beds many times already.”

“And Wonwoo-ya isn’t being noisy in the room,” Soonyoung added, earning a sharp jab at his side from Wonwoo. “Ow!”

“We’ve moved so many times already,” Seungkwan said exasperatedly. “There’s absolutely  _ no _ reason for him to not be able to sleep! I mean, there’s so many different things, but we’ve already gotten used to them to the point that they won’t affect our sleep…”

“Yeah, that’s true,” Seungcheol muttered. 

Furthermore, it was  _ Mingyu _ of all people. The Mingyu who could sleep on the floor, beside the sofa, hidden away from everyone’s eyes. Why would that man not be able to sleep on a comfortable bed?

Everyone let out a sigh in unison. The mystery was far from being solved.

Suddenly, an idea popped up in Jun’s mind. The Chinese glanced at Jihoon, who had stayed quiet the whole time. His eyes then met Seungcheol’s. The leader, noticing that, asked Jun to speak. “Do you have something in mind, Jun?”

Jun hesitated for a bit, but decided to say it anyways. “Umm… There’s also something different now.” He pointed at Jihoon, who raised an eyebrow, confused. “Jihoon’s not his roommate anymore.”

Hearing that, Jihoon scoffed. “It’s not like it makes any difference. We all changed our roommates and no one else has had the trouble of not being able to sleep.”

“But we’re all different, hyung,” Hansol reminded Jihoon. “Maybe he has some attachment to you.”

“But—”

Chan added on to Hansol’s words. “You two have been roommates for 4 years, or more, already. Maybe he’s gotten used to your presence, and that makes him sleep better.”

“I—” Jihoon paused, recalling the way Mingyu had slept deeply on the couch in his studio. He sighed. Maybe, just  _ maybe _ , the members were right. “Fine. Wonwoo can have my bed and I’ll be Mingyu’s new roommate for now. We’ll see if he’ll be able to sleep well with me there.” He frowned at that thought. “Though I highly doubt it.” The incident at his studio could have just been a one-time thing, and knowing that the younger was immensely tired, it made sense that he would be able to sleep in that quiet place.

“Great,” Seungcheol said, wrapping up the discussion. “We’ll just need to wait for Mingyu to come out of the room.” 

At that moment, the door opened and Mingyu stepped out of the room sheepishly.

“Guys.” His eyes fell at the other 12 men in the living room. “Sorry for my outburst. I was just… Tired, that’s all.” The others exchanged sympathetic glances.

Smiling, one by one, each member walked towards Mingyu. They all shared a very-much-needed group hug.

That night, Jihoon prepared to move to the new room.

~

“Huh?” Mingyu gawked at the small man, who was preparing to go to sleep. “Why are you here, Jihoon hyung? You switched with Wonwoo hyung?”

“Yeah,” Jihoon said. “We decided that—” He stopped speaking. It would be  _ weird  _ to tell Mingyu that they were technically carrying out an experiment to see if he could be the remedy to the insomnia that Mingyu was currently having.

“Wonwoo was being too annoying so, to stop his pestering, I decided to just give in to his requests.”

At that, Mingyu’s eyes were notably brighter. “So you’ll be my roommate again?” He should really thank Wonwoo for that.

“Yeah,” Jihoon replied. “For now.”   
Mingyu, despite his weariness, was feeling much more energized already. He cheered loudly, much to Jihoon’s bewilderment. Why the h*ll was the younger being so hyperactive this late at night? Right after, Jihoon brushed it off, deciding that it was a good thing for Mingyu to return to his usual puppy-like self.

“Come on, turn off the lights. Let’s get to sleep.”

Mingyu followed his hyung’s orders, immediately turning the lights off and tucking himself into his bed. However, what he could not do was fall asleep. This time, rather than not being able to sleep well, he was just too excited to go to sleep.

“Jihoonie hyung,” he started, laying on his side to see the small bump on the other bed that was his hyung. “Let’s be completely honest here. You missed me, didn’t you?”

He heard the older sigh. “Yeah, yeah, sure. I definitely missed your huge ego.”

Mingyu pouted. “Hyung,” he whined. Another sigh. Jihoon turned to face his dongsaeng as well. “Fine, I miss you too, Mingyu-ah.”

Mingyu giggled like a baby. “I knew it!” he exclaimed, earning a shush from his hyung. “I knew it,” he whispered softly.

Jihoon really didn’t know why Mingyu was acting like this. The tall man really acted like a 3-year-old child at times, didn’t he? A small smile appeared on his lips without him meaning to.

“If you know it, then let’s just shut up and go to sleep, okay?”

“Okay, hyung,” the younger said, still smiling widely. “Goodnight, hyung.”

He received a hum from his hyung. “Hmm, night.”

A few minutes later, Mingyu opened his mouth again, quietly saying, “Love you, Jihoonie hyung.”

He didn’t receive a response to that.

Mingyu decided that his hyung had been too tired, thus he fell asleep right away. Facing the ceiling, Mingyu closed his eyes, ready to slip into dreamland.

Meanwhile, Jihoon could feel his ears heat up at the younger’s confession. It had always been easy for Mingyu to say the L-word. And even though he knew that Mingyu only loved him as a brother, it made his heart beat erratically, for no reason at all.

“I love you too, Minggu.” 

~

Weeks later, the results of the experiment were immensely obvious.

Mingyu was much brighter and more cheerful. The dark bags under his eyes were gone, and he had become his usual somewhat patient, talkative, handsome self again.

In other words, Mingyu had no more trouble sleeping.

The remedy to his sleepless nights? His small Jihoonie hyung’s presence.

Or as the members say… The beginning of  _ love _ .

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed the short story \\(^v^)/  
> As you might have noticed, it's part of a series, and just as the series title says, it'll be about them catching feelings -- becoming conscious of each other, plus more situations, that makes them finally get together in the end!  
> It's all a fantasy really, I just like their interactions with each other >~<  
> The updates might take long, but I'll do my best.  
> Thank you for reading this story, have a nice day, everyone~


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